"Eclipse," the third installment of Summit Entertainment's "Twilight" franchise defied toasty summer weather in France and the U.K., opening No. 1 in these two key markets. U.K. take was a jaw-dropping $20.7 million from 523 locations (including previews), the market's biggest opening of 2010 and about $2 million more than "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" grossed in its market bow late last year.

The France gross opening tally was $12.5 million from 765 locales, also the highest opening market take of this year. "Eclipse's" No. 1 opening in South Korea generated $6.4 million over four days at 603 locations, while its No. 2 sophomore session in Australia produced $4.7 million from 533 screens for a market cume of $20.2 million.

Check out this hilarious parody of Twilight!

Some more HQ scans of Dakota’s photo shoots with Elle & Flare magazines

Dakota also talked about her life in the new Flare magazine

·On her down-to-earth daily life: “I have such a normal life when I’m not working . . . It’s just nice to be around people you care about and who know you best.”

·On acting alongside Kristen in Eclipse: “Kristen is one of my best friends, so it was really funny playing her enemy in Eclipse . . . But that’s what acting is and when they yell ‘cut,’ you can go back to your normal self.”

·On her favorite wardrobe staple: “In Push, I wear these Doc Martens. They’re worn-in and they’re so soft, and they’re one of the only ones that were made with a zipper. That has affected my style in a completely new way. Now I wear them every day.”

·On the career legacy she hopes she’ll leave: “I hope people will have been moved by something that I’ve done or [that I've] helped somebody through a hard time . . . and that I’ve stayed true to who I am and have been a nice person.”

Remember all the stories of crazed Twilight fans? How they made poor Robert nearly get hit by a car in New York? How we’re all a danger to our beloved TwiStars? Well, it’s simply not true. In fact, Rob loves his fan posse.

He tells Telepoche magazine, "(The funniest fan experience) happened while I was filming Water for Elephants in which my partner is Reese Witherspoon. We had a scene with elephants but there were so many paparazzi around that it was scaring the animals and it was impossible to film.

"Out of the blue, fans, that were waiting for autographs, had enough and circled around the paparazzi. Teens made big guys run away. It was unreal! I was pleased."

A few clips from the movie are now online to whet the taste of those would-be Twilighters

EW conducted an amazingly informative interview with Tish Monaghan—Eclipse costume designer. You’d never guess the thought that goes into the costumes and what goes on behind the scenes! I love seeing what actually goes into making the movies we all enjoy.

• Robert Pattinson wanted to wear karate pants for the training sequence.

“So we got him some karate pants, and it’s like the crotch hangs down to the knees, and I just thought, Ugh. Who’s gonna go for this? Because everything has to be approved by Summit,” Monaghan says. “We took them in a little bit, and they loved the karate pants. Who knew? I was so surprised.”

• Even at the film’s premiere, people squealed when Taylor Lautner turned around in that black T-shirt.

“It was almost embarrassing. I felt so bad for him,” Monaghan says, with a laugh. “They were screaming and going ‘Wooooo!’” As she’d done on New Moon, her M.O. was to put him in smaller size Gap or Banana Republic T-shirts to emphasize his biceps, tightening the tees around the arm holes and taking them in down the side. (Pattinson wore Gap T-shirts, exclusively, she adds. “They were what fit him best. They had the best colors. So that’s what he ended up wearing, even when Edward takes Bella up to the tent. It may strike people as odd, but he doesn’t feel temperature, so that’s why we only put him in a shirt, and Bella’s all bundled up, and Jacob, of course, is running around shirtless.”

• Rosalie’s wedding dress was the star of a deleted scene:

For Rosalie’s flashback to the 1930s, Monaghan’s department both rented original period dresses and made two ensembles — the one she wore when she was attacked, and her wedding dress. “Unfortunately in the film, we only see her arriving at the door,” Monaghan says, of the latter’s entrance. “I’m not sure why the scene with her floating down the hallway was cut out — maybe it’s because the element of surprise had a stronger impact. They didn’t want us to know in advance who was coming to the door. But we made a silk train for her that floated down the hallway as she kind of hydroplaned down the carpet. [Actress Nikki Reed] was mounted on a contraption, almost like a bicycle seat, and the camera was in front of her and to the side, and she just whenwhoooooooosh. She was rolled down the hallway at quite the speed and a fan would blow up her veil so that it was trailing behind her. It looked wonderful. The train itself was probably about 10 or 12 feet, and then the veil went beyond that.”

• Riley (Xavier Samuel) has great taste in victims:

“The sensibility of all of the newborns, including Riley, is that they’re scavengers. They’re going to steal pieces from whomever they find. Riley just happened to find somebody who was wearing a G-Star jacket and some really cool jeans,” Monaghan says, with a laugh. “Once he was turned, I just wanted to put him in something that was edgy and very contemporary. We wanted to make him young and powerful but still have this kind of dark sexiness to him. We found this great G-Star jacket for him and tight, tight jeans and a beautiful Paul Smith shirt. And then he had one other change after that, which was the same jacket and tight reddish maroon jeans, which for us was important because once he got into battle with the Cullens and the werewolves, we had to separate the newborns from the Cullens color-wise. We had to make sure that there wasn’t any confusion as to who was on whose team when a body was flying through the air. So with the Cullens, we intentionally put them in black, dark navy or dark gray. With the newborns, we put them in earth tones and hints of brighter colors.”

• There’s a bit of old Victoria in new Victoria.

“Because of the transition from Rachelle Lefevre to Bryce Dallas Howard, we decided that the first time that we saw Victoria, we should definitely put her into pieces of the costume that we had last seen Victoria wearing in New Moon, just so that the audience, aside from her large mane of tangled red hair, would definitely know that this is who that character is. There’s all these things that you work on so hard, and then it ends up becoming such a subliminal thing,” Monaghan says. “Gradually, we transitioned out of that into something a little bit different to make it Bryce’s own character. Because she was going to be courting Riley, I wanted something that was dark and foreboding but still sensual, because she has to lure him. We made a black lace top with a zipper that kind of went around her neck, and you could unzip it as far down the front as was necessary. Just a romantic/punk look. It works really well with her red hair, and her skin showed through, and you could see that she was being a little bit of a siren and trying to work her magic on Riley.”

“Absolutely,” Monaghan says, when asked if this theory about his Old Navy hoodie is correct. “I also knew that the focus was going to be on him and his chase with Victoria in the woods, so I just really wanted to make sure that he stood out amongst all the dark backgrounds…. You probably won’t notice, but I made a very conscious decision to have the Cullens move through the color palette. They’re in lighter colors when they first hunt Victoria. The next big scene, when they’re in their workout wear, they’re in sort of midtones. Then when they have the final battle, that’s when I put them all in black, because I wanted them to be more stealth-like.”

• A lot of work goes into seconds of screen time.

Take the newborn army Jasper (Jackson Rathbone, in a uniform purchased from a company that clothes reenactment societies, then aged as though he’d been riding in the desert for months) trained in his Civil War flashback. “It’s so fast, but for us, we have to do the work and prepare for that scene just as much as we would for any character,” Monaghan says. “They were scavengers from the 1800s, so it was a mix of garments that they grabbed from different armys, bankers, merchants, hookers.” The siren who turned him and leads the army is actually wearing his jacket and sash over her skirt. “That’s just me trying to show the link between the two of them,” she says. “For us, it’s the challenge in doing all of these thematic linkings that makes our job worthwhile. It’s important to do it, even if nobody else notices.”

• It takes a village to build a village.

Unearthing what the Quileute tribe would have been wearing in the 1700s, before photography, was another challenge. Monaghan turned to ship logs from explorers who landed on the Pacific Coast and described the natives’ jewelry, their cedar bark clothing, and their dog-haired blankets. She looked at works by artist Paul Kane, and visited two Canadian museums of archeology with extensive native artifacts unearthed from burial sites. “We took all of this, and we said, ‘How are we gonna make this cheaply?’ Because we found someone was selling a recreated cedar cape online for $25,000 a garment. We ended up making them out of ground cover used in landscaping. We got something like 200 feet for $25,” Monaghan says. “So I had a whole team of people who made it one-time wear. We went to a taxidermist, and we got bones. We went to restaurants and got mussel shells. We went to another place and got abalone shells, which we used for our jewelry. We made hats out of straw baskets from Chinatown. We used wool blankets and raw silk. I was so happy with the outcome of recreating the Quileute village in the 1700s. I just thought it worked spectacularly for its, I think, 10 seconds of screen time.”

• You almost saw Kristen Stewart in a swimsuit.

That’s what Bella was wearing in the script when she was saying goodbye to her mother and the sun. “Realistically, that’s never gonna look good on anybody if they’re just lying there. If they’re gonna dive into a pool and swim, maybe,” Monaghan says. “I just approached the director and said, ‘Listen, can we just do cutoffs or something instead?’ I think originally, we were going to shoot on location [in Florida], but instead, we shot in Vancouver. The temperature was not warm at all, and we wanted to keep them comfortable as well.”

BBC Radio 1 interviewed Robert & Kristen

Bits of Breaking Dawn

So we all know that BD Part 1 will be released on November 18th, 2011. But what about BD Part 2? Everyone is speculating summer 2012, but now it looks like that might not be as definite as previously believed. MTV reports,

“Not so fast. Summit distribution chief Richie Fay told MTV News that no such decision has been made and that the studio is still exploring multiple release dates, not just ones in the summer.

"We've targeted a number of dates, and we have yet to determine when it will happen," Fay said. "We haven't even determined that it will be the summer. It's still the source of discussions."

Of course, studios always explore various release dates for pictures, especially established blockbusters, and the fact that Summit hasn't committed the second "Breaking Dawn" to the summer season shouldn't be mistaken for confusion or indecision within studio headquarters.

But the 2012 summer movie calendar is rapidly filling up, not necessarily with films that widely share an audience with "Breaking Dawn," but with established franchises or properties in their own right. That May will offer "The Avengers," "Madagascar 3" and "Men in Black 3," while June delivers a "Star Trek" sequel.

The rebooted "Spider-Man" has already nabbed the July 4th slot (occupied this year by "Eclipse"), followed closely by another "Ice Age" and a third "Batman."

Surely there's room here for "Breaking Dawn," but Summit now has experience releasing "Twilight" movies both in the summer and the fall. And, as Fay says, the studio might not be ready to pick a season for "Breaking Dawn" until "Eclipse" finishes up its theatrical run.

"We might have a preference when we see where 'Eclipse' ends up," he said of choosing one season over another. "It certainly might color our thinking, but we're comfortable with either place. Right now, it's a bit early in that stage of planning."

“Louisiana’s appealing tax credits have drawn a number of productions to its locales, one bright spot on the state’s struggling economy. As such, Summit will take advantage of such deals, heading first to Louisiana, where the film’s interior locations will be shot. Then once weather has improved in Vancouver, the Breaking Dawn production will move to Canada, sometime in the New Year.”

What?? What’s that you say? “What about Isle Esme?” “Neither Canada nor LA have tropical looking locales?” No worries! For the Isle Esme scenes the BD crew might film in Brazil! Via Robert Pattinson Blogspot

Tuesday, July 13th, the director and RioFilme's CEO, Sérgio Leão Sá posted on Twitter that parts of Breaking Dawn could be filmed in Rio de Janeiro. Robert Pattinson even commented that he'd love to come to the city.

Sérgio posted around 10AM: "RioFilme, SEC and Rio Film Commission are working on the 4th movie of the Twilight Saga to be shoot in Rio".

“Paris Filmes, brazilian distributor of Summit's movies, is also helping us negotiating part of Breaking Dawn to be filmed in Rio"

So now that we know where BD is filming and when part one will be released, what from the book, will remain in the film? PopSugar interviewed screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg for some details.

PopSugar: How did you feel about the decision to split Breaking Dawn into two movies?

Relief, actually, because it was going to be quite a challenge to condense such a large book into one movie. That's always the challenge with all of these and, more so, Breaking Dawn. Having a little more room to breathe is nice . . . on the other hand, there's also the challenge of making sure there's enough to fill two movies.

PS: We've heard there are some scenes you want to avoid showing on screen in Breaking Dawn. For example, Bella giving birth. Can you tell us why?

MR: That was a misquote. The childbirth — all the scenes, I feel — should be on screen. I think perhaps what I was referring to was, would we actually see Edward's teeth through the placenta? I don't think so. I don't think we need to see that, and if someone needs to see that, I think they should take a look at that. [Laughs.] I believe it will be implied, but I don't think we'll see teeth in the placenta.

PS: What responsibility do you feel toward the fans? Are they on your mind during the writing process?MR: The responsibility I feel to the fans? Well, there's one: making them happy, of course. I want people to enjoy the movie and not feel that I killed their favorite novel! But what I've realized is, you can't satisfy all the people. But the real weight that I feel is a very heavy responsibility, knowing that a lot of women and young girls are seeing this, and watching to make sure that what's portrayed in the film is that Bella's a strong female role model. That the messages they're getting are positive ones.

PS: What's the craziest or most surprising fan reaction you've experienced? MR: You can't call it crazy, but crazy wonderful. I just came back from Paris. I was there [for a press junket] with some of the actors: Daniel Cudmore, Edi Gathegi, Michael Welch, and Alex Meraz. At the end, there was this closing ceremony and we were told there was a surprise for us, and they led us out on the stage . . . and the entire audience was sort of standing in this darkened theater, almost as if in prayer. It was very odd. And then after a moment, Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" starts up, and they break into a dance they've been choreographing for three days. This wonderful, very unified dance, and it was amazing. We were stunned. A thousand pairs of hands all raised to the beat at the same time — it's a powerful experience . . . I wondered, could that have happened anywhere else but in France? Would American audiences have been too cool?

PS: How involved is Stephenie Meyer in the writing process and what is your relationship with her like?
MR: Stephenie is very involved. My relationship with her has only gotten better with every movie. When I met her and began to engage, I had no reason to be protective. I found her to be extremely collaborative and a tremendous resource. So I began to engage her more and that happened more on New Moon and even more in Eclipse . . . She weighs in on every draft of the outline, every draft of the script. She's on set. She's very involved.

PS: What is one of your favorite scenes from the books or films? Is there one you've especially enjoyed writing or look forward to writing?MR: There are a number. I think seeing Bella as a vampire and her adjusting to her powers and embracing them, those are all really fun scenes to write. Particularly when you picture Kristen Stewart playing her, and the way she's embodied Bella as a sort of awkward, fidgety persona. When she turns into a vampire, all of that goes away.

TwiFun Time!

I don’t know about you, but I haven’t really been excited by newest Twilight Merch. That is until I discovered cafepress.com! Check out all the incredible fan-made merch. It’s some of the best, most creative and beautiful merch I’ve seen so far. Here are some of my favorites

I’m a great lover of all things Twilight. This includes all sorts of parodies, critiques, & analysis. I eat them up! In that spirit, I present to you “Eclipse in 15 Minutes” by Cleolinda.

Cleo isn’t the biggest fan of the Twilight Saga, but she does an incredible job at parodying the books & movies. If you’re secure enough in your fandom, take a look & have a laugh! Here’s an excerpt.

Werewolf Central
LEAH: GTFO VAMPIRE GIRL

BELLA: Oh, are you a muffin-baking Wolf Girl like Emily now?

LEAH: No, I'm a GIRLWOLF, which means that I have to share Jacob's werethoughts and listen to him meeble about YOU all the time.

QUIL: lol yeah. BELLA AND JAAAA~COB, WOLFING IN A TREEEEEE--

JACOB: QUIL, GO IMPRINT ON A TODDLER OR SOMETHING

BELLA: What's imprinting?

JACOB: It's a deep, spiritual bond where someone who may or may not yet be toilet-trained becomes your center of gravity. She becomes your whole world. You would do anything for her, you would be anything for her. Anything. All night long.

BELLA: So... uh. Ew. Yeah. Have you... ew.

JACOB: No, I won't imprint on anyone for at least another 500 pages. But I FEEL like I have! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH I WISH YOU WERE DEAD!

BELLA: SO I'M GOING HOME NOW.

Werewolf Beach Bonfire
BELLA: Oh, wow, the Ceremonial Telling of the Werelegends? If I'd known this was going to be formal, I would have worn my khaki skirt or something.

BILLY BLACK, JACOB'S DAD: We fictional Quileutes have long had the powers of wolfing out; and so this is the tale of the first Cold One. Our ancestors were a peaceful people, but then Peter Murphy came to snack upon them, and as our ancestors were Bauhaus fans, they felt deeply betrayed. And thus, we fursploded for the first time. And then the Cold One's mate came to wreak her vengeance upon us in turn, because vengeful women robbed of their mates is actually a recurring motif in this series, now that I think about it. So then, when the foreshadowing was darkest, the third wife of our ancestors' chief slew herself so to as to distract the Other Cold One with her blood, because she couldn't possibly just cut her finger or something. And so, in times of trouble, when greater numbers of vampires threaten our tribe, more and more of our young people fursplode--

SETH, THE LITTLEST WEREWOLF: Like me!

BILLY BLACK: --so as increase the numbers of the pack.

LEAH: AND THAT'S WHY ALL OF THIS IS BELLA'S FAULT. THE END.

Some Romantic Parking Garage
RILEY: You know... if I didn’t know better... I’d say you didn’t even love me when you killed me out of nowhere.

VICTORIA: Baby, how could you doubt me? I love you, baby. Baby, you’re everything to me. I couldn’t build this army of newborns without you! I swear, baby, I’m going to take this army and tear those nasty-bad Cullens apart and avenge you, Ja--

RILEY: Ja...?

VICTORIA: Ja... Riley. JaRiley. That’s... that's a nickname... endearment... thing we vampires do. Yes. That is totally what it is. That is what we do when we find our one true love. The way Edward loves Bella, as his one true mate who he would die for, that is totally how I love you. Yes.

RILEY: ♥_♥

This is a really cute video of Kristen Stewart. I love the clips at the end where she says “Be healthy & don’t care what anyone thinks!”.

Twilight has touched the lives of people from all backgrounds, ages, & genders. It’s really much more than a tweeny bopper phenom. This internal memo from Tom Barrack, a real-estate mogul, proves it.

As I made my way into the main cabin I saw something so frightening it left me speechless. There, staring up at me from the ebony coffee table was a book. On the cover was a gorgeous red apple nestled between two soft and caring hands. Between the hands were written the words that strike terror in the hearts of every macho, red-blooded male…TWILIGHT. AAAARRRGGGGHHHH!! Alone, on a boat, with no wifi, no satellite, no magazines, no newspapers, just me and this book. This piece of chick lit, teeny bopper heartthrob stuff. Terror on the high seas! I wanted nothing to do with any of it. Not relevant, not interesting.

As I sat there with nothing to do the book kept taunting me. I began to think that there must be something I don’t understand. What could it be? What is it all about? Women don’t just read these books, they live them. They become each paragraph. I picked it up, but then immediately dropped it like a hot coal. What if someone saw me reading this? My macho reputation would be finished! I would be kicked out of the bench press section of the gym. My polo compadres would send me packing to the pony rides and my surfing buddies would exile me to the kiddie pool.

But it was a long night and there was absolutely nothing, and I mean NOTHING else to do. Long story short – not only did I read Twilight, I read the other two as well!! I was fascinated, captivated even. However, what intrigued me was not the same thing that hooked the millions of women whose lives and had been changed by this series, but something else entirely.

…

Here is my macho take – Stephanie Meyer is a total genius. As I flipped through the pages I was startled by the lack of detailed description of Bella and the surgical and illuminating development of Edward. As hard as I tried I could not really picture Bella, but I was grabbed by Edward’s character – gorgeous, super human, super strong, super fast and most importantly encompassing the wisdom of a 109-year-old man in the guise of a 17-year-old boy.

The description of Bella on the other hand, was not moving, or compelling. What I realized is the genius of Stephanie was that she knew that by keeping the character generic, any and every woman could climb inside and picture herself in Bella’s shoes. Thus the fascination and deep emotional reactions to what many (including myself) thought was a foolish teenage trashy novel.

I definitely got that the “anticipation” was much more romantic and sexy than the “consummation” to the woman. Slow, patient, caring, tender…. (guys have you heard those words before?) I found him incredibly appealing as he was taking care of Bella, putting her first, distancing himself from her to protect her and yet never being able to get her out of his mind. The relationship stood the test of time through many years, other men, family challenges and misconceptions of valiant and loving acts. A human relationship with a vampire is challenging on many levels, the least of which being you get older as your partner remain timeless. It was enticing, captivating, alluring…and dangerous. Through it all she believed that she could do it…. change her life… change his life…make it different…in spite of what conventional wisdom dictated.

Every woman longs for the anticipation, the romance, the journey, the taboo, the patience, and the attentiveness. Men, however, are all about the destination, the result, the speed and the outcome. The journey is merely penance to get to the destination. Which is why despite the vampires and werewolves, this book is kryptonite to most men.

In a world of technology these books are unique. There is so little imagination left in most of forms of entertainment today. See it, Google it, play it, do it…there is very little old fashioned make believe anymore. …

Here is my point. The idea of devoting half a day to reading these books was something that never, NEVER, entered my mind as something I would ever, EVER do. I hated them. I mocked them. It made no difference to me that over 20 million books were sold, movies made, and Team Edward and Team Jacob pandemonium had engulfed the world. I was simply stuck in my point of view.

Once I ventured into the books I learned something. I now understand why some women are emotionally altered from merely reading a book. I have also gained a deeper realization that understanding the circumstances and points of views of those with whom we are negotiating, working, living, loving or fighting is the key determinant factor in an enduring relationship.

In every day business, we think we know it all. We are the captains of our industry and we possess all the global knowledge. That which we don’t understand we push a button and it appears before us. We are lacking creativity…. it is hard for us to dream… harder for us to change our lives… hard to live in a situation that other people view as unconventional. And for sure, we all have no idea on how to be satisfied with the status quo.

It is time for all of us to become more creative, spend more time outside of the strict arithmetic cadence of our business, and understand foreign points of view.

…

I feel renewed and refreshed, having gotten out of my comfort zone and experiencing something so totally out of my normal realm. I don’t get it…. but I feel it. Taking the agenda-less time to absorb a point of view that I had ignored while loved ones around me relished in it, was an oasis for my soul. Having been unwilling to investigate the cause of such a startling movement until now was ignorant. Move your cheese!!!! Break through the comfort barriers, you can handle it whatever it is. The earth is turning on its axis. Planets and moons and suns are in orbit. Gravity is pulling and tugging, and molecules and quarks are warring inside of us. We need movement to live…

Do it Now!

Tom

Can't you just see this guy waiting in line for a midnight showing? Pumped up & ready to get out of his comfort zone?